Back then, my mother was forever playing beauty salon with my grandmother. This always involved perms, rollers, Dippity-Do, trimming, teasing and, of course, Roux hair tint to give Nana’s hair that soft blue sheen. One day as my mother was distracted fixing Nana’s hair, I picked up the hair razor and began to “comb” my hair with it. In my defense, it rather looks like a comb and the blade is encased inside of it, so to my young eyes I thought it was a cool shiny comb.
Luckily these things don’t take off a lot of hair. I’m sure I expected to smooth my shiny locks into some semblance of order and when that didn’t happen I stopped. I’m not sure how much hair I cut, but I don’t recall my mother noticing anything unusual about my new hair do. That is until we decided to go to the lunch counter at Fernandes. It must have been cold out because I wore a hat, and when we got to the counter my mother took my hat off and a large quantity of my hair came with it and spilled all over the floor. I’m sure she was horrified on many levels not least of which was why was my hair falling out? I don’t recall if I fessed up or if she found the evidence in the razor at home. In any event, I don’t know what happened to all my hair that wound up on the floor at Fernandes either. I doubt we took it with us. I wonder what the guy who swept the floor was thinking?
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We were at the breakfast place the day after the Drink Us Dry party and as our waitress walked away after taking our order the distinct smell of Dippity Do wafted through the air in her wake. It immediately brought us back to the memories of the drawer in our mothers dresser which carried all of the hair products anyone in the mid 70's could ever need: Dippity Do, Vo5- a greasy mixture similiar to vaseline that one would put in their hair to condition the scalp and add a "luster" to anyone's locks, various combs, brushes, hair clips, rollers, etc. You get the picture. I think all of us girls have an uncanny sense of smell that often trigures memories attatched to them. Some may call that a curse, but I don't see it that way. Anyway, getting back to this post... as far as her hair goes, I only know of what our mother has said about the self haircutting incident. She says that alot of hair fell out of that hat and she did quite a number to one side of her hair, cutting "masterfully" which required Mom to cut the other side to even thing up. Eventually Jeanette's curly locks returned in their full glory. Even today they are there, only she disguises them. I've been trying to get her to let me see them in the privacy of her house but she's not having any part of that. I can only hope maybe someday I'll be allowed to see them. I have an idea they are probably beautiful. I have curly locks which I embrace. I love having the option of changing my hair from curly to straight depending on my mood and the weather! Hopefully I can convince her too! I would love to see the day she "let's her hair down".
VO-5!!! I remember that -- my brother and I would get the short hair cut and end up with those stray hairs pointing up like Alfalfa in The Little Rascals. Well, a little VO-5 took care of that!!! Or spit, whatever we could afford that day. :)
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